Pew survey: Catholics favor Obama by 15-point margin

President Barack Obama holds a 54%-39% advantage over Mitt Romney among Catholics, according to the latest voter survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Among Catholics who attend Mass at least weekly, Romney holds a 51%-42% lead. Catholics who attend Mass “monthly” or “yearly” favor Obama by a 53%-39% advantage, while Catholics who attend Mass “seldom” or “never” back Obama by a 61%-32% margin.

The survey also found that white Catholics favor Obama by a 47%-46% margin.

Protestants favor Romney by a 50%-42% margin; among white evangelical Protestants, the pro-Romney advantage is 74%-19%, while the two candidates are in a 46%-46% dead heat among mainline Protestants. Black Protestants favor Obama by an overwhelming 95%-2% margin.

The Pew survey, conducted September 16, found that Obama holds a 51%-42% lead among all registered voters—a significantly larger lead than the 3.7% advantage Obama currently holds in the RealClearPolitics.com average of surveys.

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I find it offensive when surveys refer to those who "drop in" to Mass at Christmas or Easter or both as "Catholic". There is no way they can be an indicator of that they do not know!
And the fact that evangelical Protestants lead Catholics who attend weekly Mass by a substantial margin tells me that the battle for orthodox vs. "social justice" (progressive) Catholicism is being lost. The culture is changing the Church, which is the opposite of what God had in mind!

Posted by: Exaudi nos -
Sep. 26, 2012 7:56 AM ET USA

Perhaps the present administration understands those in the pews better than some bishops. What a shame. Lord save your people who place our trust in you. Open the eyes of the Church to tell the flock what the truth is and who the Truth is.

And the Al Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is still three weeks away! Wait until the endorsement like photos of President Obama and Timothy Cardinal Dolan, President of the USCCB are shown laughing and shaking hands in major news papers through out the country. It astounds me that 42% of practicing Cathoics could vote for a man who said, "We are not a Christian nation"; who abolished the Nat'l Day of Pryer begun by President Harry Truman over 60 years ago; who mocks the Christian relgion.

Posted by: bnewman -
Sep. 25, 2012 10:17 PM ET USA

The high % of pro-Obama Catholics is, I suppose, due to the % of Hispanics, the most recent immigrant population. Many immigrant groups vote Democrat initially. The Republican focus on the immigration issue has also helped Obama with Hispanics, despite his enthusiasm for abortion in all circumstances, and his disdain for the Catholic Church. Most of the media share his disdain and the Church has not been able to communicate the anti-Catholicism underlying the Obama-care mandate

Posted by: koinonia -
Sep. 25, 2012 7:34 PM ET USA

Apparently some did not get the memo. Perhaps Cardinal Dolan's appearance at the Democratic Convention was not quite so disasterous, or the appearance with Stephen Colbert reversed any progress that had been made among the Catholic voters. Perhaps none of it has had any effect on a very concerning state of affairs one might call reality. Pray for change.

Posted by: John Chrysostom -
Sep. 25, 2012 6:05 PM ET USA

No surprise here. Catholics have been taught by generations of bishops that the Democrat party cares for the poor and that the Republican party does not.

Posted by: AgnesDay -
Sep. 25, 2012 1:26 PM ET USA

Pew surveys tend to be painfully accurate.

Posted by: rpp -
Sep. 25, 2012 1:09 PM ET USA

The catechesis of the 70s and 80s is bearing exactly the fruit that those who promoted it wanted.

Posted by: Randal Mandock -
Sep. 25, 2012 11:42 AM ET USA

Anecdotal story follows. Last week I attended my university's biannual convocation. The guest speaker was the "Dean of the civil rights movement." He spent about half an hour trying to convince the students to generate in themselves the "enthusiasm" for civil rights causes as was shown in the 1960s protest marches. The second half was invective against Herman Cain (the evil one), Condoleezza Rice (the useful child), Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, et al. He threatened and intimidated the students.